Fr. Jonathan Morris, Tucker Carlson Use Plane Crash To Pimp Power Of Prayer

For many people, faith plays an important role in their response to crises. But their spiritual responses vary according to their faith traditions which have different ways of coping with stress. But you won't hear about that on Fox News which is the one true media outlet for the Catholic Church - a church that, according to Roger Ailes, needs defending. Last Sunday, Fox's one true priest, Fr. Jonathan Morris, who is leaving his cushy gig at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral for another cushy gig at Columbia U where he will "broaden his ministry," used the San Francisco plane crash to push the power of prayer which he plugged after the Newtown tragedy. (Adam Lanza needed god). And as he did with his heartwarming anecdote about crashing airport security for a good cause, he provided another personal story which, just coincidentally, fit with the meme that even godless people turn to "God" when they're scared. Tucker Carlson, a paragon of deep spirituality, was very impressed and wasn't afraid to make a joyful noise!

Tucker Carlson, a devout Christian who claims that the Episcopal Church is run by "pompous, blowhard, pagan creeps" (substitute Anglican for pagan and you have a description of Carlson!), began with the prognostication that "passengers on the Asiana airline flight that crashed may have turned to prayer just seconds before their plane wnet down, I bet they did." (One assumes that many of the passengers were Buddhists who don't have a tradition of begging to a bearded guy in the sky but this is Fox & Friends...) Alisyn Camerota asked "why is it so important to turn to faith during a crisis and how can we use our faith to help us feel safe flying in the future?" (Interesting phrase as it establishes, as fact, the importance of "faith.")

To Camerota's question of why we shouldn't be afraid, given the reality of flying, Fr. Morris said that the reality is that so many were saved. The Fox chyron was pure Fox Sunday School: "Power of Prayer, Turning to Faith Can Calm During Emergencies." He asserted that "there are lots of prayers of thanksgiving coming from all those passengers..." (Many of the passengers were Chinese who, as a society, are not religious)

After preaching about how in times of crisis and times of joy, Americans "turn to prayer," Morris treated us to one of his patented anecdotes. He recounted how, during a recent flight, he was seated next to an agnostic during a period of extreme turbulence. Camerota "joked?" "God was mad at her." Fr. Morris got into full drama mode. With his best jazz hands he said "as we dropped 500 feet suddenly, she grabbed my hand and then she said 'would you mind praying." Carlson shouted "yeeess!!!! because it reminds you that you're not in control of of your life." (Right, Tucker, as they say, "shit happens" that, sorry, has nothing to do with a late Bronze Age deity.) He spoke of how when you fly there's "no pretending" that there is control.

Morris claimed that he wasn't belittling this woman but "in that moment she did feel, like you said Tucker, like she was out of control." His baby blue's widened as he said "I don't know if she became a believer in that moment, but she was certainly praying a prayer of gratitude when we landed safely." (And you know that how, padre?)

Clayton Morris mentioned the casualties of the crash and how you need to "go to your faith to find answers" to why some people survive these situations and some don't." Fr. Morris didn't know why this happends but opined that he didn't think that "God did it to them." He blithered about how we thank God for good airline staff and the importance of "faith and reason." He preached that we "can thank God for mystery of life and being able to get through these very tough times." When he said he didn't have a perfect answer, Carlson interjected "no one does."

It would appear that Roger Ailes is interested in "bringing in the sheaves" but in this case it's more like bringing in the sheep cuz "reason" is part of any Fox & Friends Sunday's with Fr. Morris!

The way you’ve written it, I can’t tell if your talk of “gratuitous contempt for other people’s belief systems” is directed at Priscilla or Father Sparky and Tucker.

If your comment was directed at the FoxNoise boneheads, I’m willing to agree. If your comment was directed at Priscilla, you’re woefully misguided. Any “contempt” Priscilla might have had was particularly on point given the fact that none of us know what faith or philosophy the crew and passengers of the flight subscribe but that didn’t stop the FoxNoise kkkrew from deciding that prayer—not really a feature of Buddhism or other traditional East Asian faiths—is beneficial in any and all sorts of crises. (One might choose to remember the woman being interviewed in Oklahoma a couple of months ago who “confessed” to being an atheist when Wolf Blitzer asked a particularly patronizing question regarding faith during disasters.)

Patrick Tolle is absolutely correct. Why does it seem these “Christians” are so eager to credit God for saving their lives but don’t take a minute to ask why the eff He decided to send the crisis in the first place? Or, more amazingly, how they seem so completely blind to the fact that so many of their neighbors may die or those lives may be devastated during their “God was with me” moments.

Nice to know that Father Spanky is moving from the luxury of St. Patrick’s cathedral to a posh abode at Columbia University. I thought Catholic priests took a vow of poverty. Obviously, this frocked little monkey missed that seminary class.